Reapplied for own job. Didn't get it (pregnant)

mistymemo

Hi all, I'm hoping you could advise me...
I recently applied for a job I am currently doing on behalf of an agency for a local authority. The job I'm doing had been advertised as a permanent position by this particular Council and as I have been working in this role for 9 months I decided to apply for it.

I am currently five months pregnant and told both the Council and my agency about my pregnancy in early January. I applied for my job a few weeks ago and had the interview this week. Today I was told that as much as I did well, there was a better candidate and unfortunately I did not obtain the permanent position. However should this person decline the job, I was next in line for the job.

I can't help feeling that my pregnancy has played a part in me not getting the job as I am due to go on maternity leave in August. Since I have worked here, I have introduced ideas and changes which has made my managers workload much easier for him. I get all my work done on time and before my manager's boss left his position in March, he recommended me as the best candidate for my job should it become permanent. I get on with all my colleagues and always receive compliments from my manager in terms of the quality of my work. I feel so devastated and embarrassed that I wasn't able to be successful in becoming permanent and feel too angry to come in to work and train the new starter. I'm not sure if this whole situation makes sense to me or if it's even fair. Please could you let me know if this sounds reasonable or suspicious.

Thank you x

whitewing

I partly agree that the pregnancy may have played a part. But I also think there may have been a candidate who appeared to be better for some non-pregnancy related reason. You need to get over your anger at the possibility of training another person for 'your' job.

I have known people get a new job and then been made redundant, for example, as the company cut people company-wide.

Don't burn your bridges. Congratulations on the pregnancy. There will be other equally good, and maybe even better, opportunities.

tomtontom

If the job was awarded solely on the basis of the interview and application form it is quite possible someone scored higher than you. They may not be doing the job but they may have demonstrated their ability to meet the competencies in other ways. Ask for feedback, if you're still not convinced then submit a grievance, but be aware that this may make you look a little sour and leave them less likely to employ you in the future.

duchy

I'd hold fire for now and wait and willingly train this person as you'll be perfectly positioned to judge if they were indeed the better candidate in that situation.

You may decide that yes they were also a strong candidate- but you may also discover that they are measurably not and that would be the time to lodge a discrimination grievance. Asking for feedback on your application would give you more to measure against as well as keeping the job description requirements that were published.

If you let someone else train them -you'll not be in such a strong position - so get over your anger and hurt and train them and use it as a fact finding exercise.

As for embarrassment - Feh. Most employees know HR are idiots and won't think any less of you for it.

This likely isn't the only position that may come up anyway so don't blow any chance of getting another permanent position by changing your image from great employee to resentful, angry difficult employee. It'll also serve you well if you put in a grievance based on pure fact and no suggestion that you are resentful or jealous. (Plus if you are lovely to the new starter you are likely to get more info from them about their previous experience )

I had a situation where I didn't get a promotion but a newer colleague with the same first name did . It was announced and the number of people who congratulated me was ridiculous. When people were telling me I was the better candidate I just thanked them and smiled. As it turned out the girl who got the promotion hated the new position and didn't stay anyway/

motorguy

mistymemo wrote: »

Hi all, I'm hoping you could advise me...
I recently applied for a job I am currently doing on behalf of an agency for a local authority. The job I'm doing had been advertised as a permanent position by this particular Council and as I have been working in this role for 9 months I decided to apply for it.

I am currently five months pregnant and told both the Council and my agency about my pregnancy in early January. I applied for my job a few weeks ago and had the interview this week. Today I was told that as much as I did well, there was a better candidate and unfortunately I did not obtain the permanent position. However should this person decline the job, I was next in line for the job.

I can't help feeling that my pregnancy has played a part in me not getting the job as I am due to go on maternity leave in August. Since I have worked here, I have introduced ideas and changes which has made my managers workload much easier for him. I get all my work done on time and before my manager's boss left his position in March, he recommended me as the best candidate for my job should it become permanent. I get on with all my colleagues and always receive compliments from my manager in terms of the quality of my work. I feel so devastated and embarrassed that I wasn't able to be successful in becoming permanent and feel too angry to come in to work and train the new starter. I'm not sure if this whole situation makes sense to me or if it's even fair. Please could you let me know if this sounds reasonable or suspicious.

Thank you x

When i was temping in the civil service it did happen quite a lot - the temp person doing the role didnt get it.

I very much doubt that any local authority would leave themselves open to any complaints by not taking the best person for the job, just because they are pregnant.

I also saw some of those people who didnt get the permanent post go on to greater things elsewhere.

I think you need to get past it and accept that you've been unlucky and someone else did a better interview.

mistymemo

Hi all, thank you SO much for your comments and advice. I have to let you all know that something transpired today when I went into work...
The person who got the job is the sister of the supervisor I work for. From what I know of her, she has no experience in the field I am in. This means she will be working for her brother.
Before I found this out by a colleague today, I had picked up on several things which now seem to make sense:

The supervisor has been discouraging me from applying since day one. He actually advised me that I should leave and go for a job which was half the salary I am on now as "it would be good for you and your baby".

He also used to have whisper chats with the manager and as soon as I came by they would change the subject in a very obvious manner. At the time I had a bad niggling feeling that something was wrong within my team with those two but I never knew until now what it all meant.

My hurt has turned to anger. I couldn't help crying at lunch because I feel that they have acted so sly about this. I know some might say I'm paranoid but I was noticing weird behaviour between the two months before I found out today.

Someone suggested going to the Citizen advice bureau which I might do.

RuthnJasper

I am so sorry for what has happened Misty. You must be devastated and it does appear somewhat underhand.

There was an interesting and possibly relevant article on the BBC website that I read the other day about pregnancy affecting jobs - here's a link:-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-32592215

It contains a link to http://pregnantthenscrewed.com/, which was set up to assist women who fear they may have been penalised at work for being pregnant. They claim that 60,000 women a year lose their jobs because they are expecting a baby.

I hope things will get better and wish you all the very best for the pregnancy and the baby's future. xx

tomtontom

Could he have prepped her for the interview? If so that may well be against authority rules but it would not be unlawful - a grievance could get your manager disciplined and potentially get you the job, but then everyone will know how you got it - wouldn't make for a comfortable working environment.

Is there a friend you can talk this through with? It's understandable that you're upset, but you've not described anything that amounts to discrimination.

mistymemo

tomtontom wrote: »

Could he have prepped her for the interview? If so that may well be against authority rules but it would not be unlawful - a grievance could get your manager disciplined and potentially get you the job, but then everyone will know how you got it - wouldn't make for a comfortable working environment.

Is there a friend you can talk this through with? It's understandable that you're upset, but you've not described anything that amounts to discrimination.

Thanks for your advice. I feel that there may have been prepping involved as a few days ago I overhead that a lady had been emailed the test which I had done on my interview day. That and the supervisor has inside knowledge of the systems we use. For someone who has never worked at the Council and has no experience in highways, I was surprised that they would be able to answer questions about highways engineering. It may not make for a comfortable working environment but at least justice would have been done and I would be able to provide again for my child. Most people would agree with me at work. I'm not sure how making someone pay for being dishonest and conniving in a Council role would be the wrong thing to do

dancingfairy

I feel for you, but what do you want to achieve from here? Revenge? Compensation? The job?
I would imagine it's going to be very hard (possibly stressful and possibly cost money) to prove a point.
Obviously if you do decide to fight then it might mark you out as a trouble maker.
Sometimes it's actually better to hold one's head up and walk away the better (wo)man I'm afraid.
Knowing you've been unfairly treated and proving it are very different things, I'm afraid.
I wish you well whether you wish to take this further or not.
df

mistymemo

RuthnJasper wrote: »

I am so sorry for what has happened Misty. You must be devastated and it does appear somewhat underhand.

There was an interesting and possibly relevant article on the BBC website that I read the other day about pregnancy affecting jobs - here's a link:-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-32592215

It contains a link to http://pregnantthenscrewed.com/, which was set up to assist women who fear they may have been penalised at work for being pregnant. They claim that 60,000 women a year lose their jobs because they are expecting a baby.

I hope things will get better and wish you all the very best for the pregnancy and the baby's future. xx

Thank you for your advice and links x